//------------------------------// // Chapter 2: Secrets Revealed // Story: Spike's Adventure in the Enchanted Dominion // by JediPony //------------------------------// Hey, guys. Sorry I kept all of you waiting. Life outside of the Internet has kept me so busy as of late. Anyways, without further ado, let’s continue, shall we? ------------------------- After a bit of running, mine and Briar Rose's running came to a slow as we walked side by side through the woods back to her home. By now, all of her woodland critters had gone back to their own homes, leaving me and the lovely human girl alone. The silent walk seemed to take hours, even though we were only walking for a few minutes. During the walk, so many questions had come to mind for me concerning her life before now. So I broke the silence by clearing my throat, which managed to get her attention. "So... you were raised by your aunts your whole life, right?" I asked her. "Right, Spike." Briar Rose replied, "They've been taking great care of me since I was a baby." "... And you never knew your true parents?" The golden-haired maiden pondered at the question, "Well... No. I never knew my mother and father, yet I have always wondered what they were like." Just then, she looked down to me with a question of her own: "Why? Have you known your own mother and father?" The sound of that question made me stop dead in my tracks. I never really thought about that since the whole dragon migration I went on to find myself, only to discover my friends were the closest thing I had to a family. "Uhh... No. I'm kind of like you, actually," I answered her as honestly as I could, "My best friend, Twilight Sparkle, hatched me as part of her entrance exam and raised me from that point on, with a little help from her mentor, Princess Celestia. "Don't get me wrong, even though I was a dragon among pony kind, I turned out just fine being raised by Twilight. But... It doesn't exactly compare to what I’d really like to have in life." Just thinking about the whole ordeal was leaving me downhearted. As I spoke on, I felt my pace going slower and slower as I looked to the ground. Being loved by Twilight and the rest of our pony friends was great and all, but I couldn't help but wish that I knew of my true family and lineage. All of a sudden, I had remembered times that Twilight and the others weren’t all that friendly with me, even going as far as leaving me out of all the fun they had, like the Cloudsdale Competition and Twilight’s birthday party in Canterlot. "And sometimes, I can't help but wonder if they do care about me." I spoke with a sudden hint of bitterness in my voice. I didn’t really know I had said that aloud till Briar Rose gave an audible gasp. "Spike," She said, sounding surprised by what I had to say, "What in the world would make you believe that?" I froze right where I was upon realizing I said my thoughts aloud. To be honest, I never found myself talking about my troubles to anyone else besides Twilight, but even then, I usually couldn't bring myself to be completely honest with her because I was afraid it would hurt her feelings. I let loose with a sigh as I explained my honest thoughts to the human maiden. "Well, it's just that being a number one assistant isn't all it's cracked up to be," I explained myself, "Where I come from, I'm usually helping my friend, Twilight Sparkle, with everything she can, sorting all the books in the library, which I usually do what I can to keep clean, I do some of the cooking, almost everything. Sometimes, all on my own without help while Twilight and the gang go on all the fun adventures without me." Briar Rose looked slightly shocked, "Why, Spike. You make it sound as though you're some kind of slave." Hearing that made me almost stop dead in my tracks. Me, a slave? No one had ever raised that kind of issue with me before, at least out loud. But in all honesty, I never imagined myself being Twilight's "slave". If that were the case, I think she would be treating me much worse than I already am treated. "No, I never said I was a slave or anything," I replied as I shook my head, "Don't get me wrong, I don't mind looking after the library when Twilight and the others go off on their adventures because it leaves me to clean up less messes. It's just that I wish they would include me a little more in the adventures they go on.” This put a look of sympathy on Briar Rose's face, understanding how I felt. “And you actually believe they don’t care about you?” "…. Well…. No. Come to think of it, there were times that they showed they cared about me," I said, starting to remember all of the times the ponies actually loved me, "Like when Twilight came looking for me after I ran away from home, thinking she didn't love me when Owlycious came along, she took me to the doctor, vet and Zecora when I literally got a bad case of the greed flu, not to mention she, Rainbow Dash and Rarity followed after me when I went on the Dragon Migration to make sure I didn't get hurt. "Heck, Rainbow Dash even was willing to rescue me from a buffalo tribe when she thought they dragon-napped me, even though I wasn't in any real danger. Applejack even saved me from a pack of timber-wolves, which I ended up repaying the favor by saving her from a gigantic Timber-wolf! Heck, Twilight gave me full credit for saving the Crystal Empire from the evil King Sombra! "But I digress. Twilight and the gang do care about me. Otherwise, I wouldn't have a roof over my head, be fed or given appreciation. Heck, they wouldn't even have celebrated my birthday with me if they didn't care." As I was speaking on, I looked off into the distance. Just then, I saw two sparkling lights, one pink and the other blue, go off in the sky not too far from us. At that point, I decided to raise another question. "Hey, just wondering, but..." I asked aloud, "Are there any type of mystical creatures that you know of around here?" Briar Rose stopped where she was and thought that question over. From what I could guess, she probably never got that question from anyone before. I wouldn't be too surprised about that, though, since I was probably the only living being that spoke clear English to talk with her before, given she hadn't met a lot of people before me or her animal friends, save for her aunts. Finally, she looked back to me as she spoke. "Well, my aunts have told me stories of magical creatures such as fairies, wood sprites and even dragons," The golden-haired girl replied to me, before suddenly looking concerned, "However, they have told me that not all magical folk are good. Some are even pure evil, with souls as black as the devil's heart." Hearing this got me empathized. I knew what Briar Rose was talking about, especially the bit about some magical folk not being good. After a moment's silence, she looked off towards the horizon to see the sun further off into the west. "We'd best hurry back to the cottage, Aunt Flora, Fauna and Merryweather must be wondering what's keeping me," She said as we continued on. I paused briefly, "But do you think they'd mind meeting me? I mean... you said they never want you meeting anyone. And I only met you just today, which isn't as much times as you met with that one guy." "Oh, I'm sure they won't mind when I tell them I met him before, I'm sure they wouldn't mind meeting a sweet lovable little dragon like you either." Hearing those words made me smile. No one besides Twilight, Pinkie Pie, Applejack, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy or even Rarity had considered me sweet and lovable before. I only smiled as we continued on, Rose humming the same tune she sang when she danced with me earlier today. ---------------------------- After walking a few more miles, we came to a glen in the woods. From a distance, we spotted a cottage with a watermill. I could assume this was the cottage in the glen that Briar Rose made mention of to that guy to meet her at later tonight. Smiling, the maiden broke off into a run as I hastily followed after her. The minute we reached the front door, she opened it as we walked inside. "Aunt Flora, Fauna, Merryweather!" She called out with a hint of eagerness in her voice as I shut the bottom half of the door behind me. Much to our surprise, there was no one in the cottage to greet us upon our entrance. "Where is everyone? It's like a ghost town in here," I commented out loud. "I'm sure they're somewhere in here." Briar Rose said as she and I looked around. But then, suddenly, she let out a gasp in surprise. I looked towards where she was looking and my jaw nearly hit the floor with surprise. Resting on the table was a four-layer cake resting atop the table, coated in pink and violet icing, topped with sixteen candles. And resting on a chair next to the table was a blue dress fit for a princess. It made me think of the amazing designs Rarity had put into all her fashion designs. Briar Rose hastily went up to the dress to touch it. "But who-? How d-?" I stuttered in astonishment. "SURPRISE!!! SURPRISE!!" Rose and I jumped in surprise, slightly startled by the sudden shouting. We turned to see three elderly women- one in red, the other in green and the third in blue- approach us with cheerful smiles on their faces. "Happy birthday!" The elderly woman in green exclaimed with glee. Smiling, Briar Rose gave them each a hug, "Oh, you darlings! This is the happiest day of my life!" "Are these your aunts?" I asked aloud, gaining the golden-haired girl's attention. "Oh, yes. Spike, these are Aunt Flora, Aunt Fauna and Aunt Merryweather," She replied, gesturing to the women in red, green and blue respectively before she gestured to me, "Dears, this is my new friend, Spike the Dragon." "Uh, he-he... Hi?" I greeted nervously, waving a bit. "Well, it's certainly nice to meet a new friend of our dear Rose's." The one in green, Fauna, said as she knelt to my level, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Spike." "I'll say, I've never met a dragon before in ages," Merryweather, the one in blue, added. "And quite an adorable one to boot," Flora cooed as she smiled. Hearing this got me smiling and blushing. Except for Rarity and Fluttershy, no one ever called me adorable before. Rose's voice once again gained mine and the three women's attention once again. "Everything's so wonderful," She said blissfully as she spun in place before grinning to her aunts, "Just wait till you meet him!" For a second there, I thought she meant me until I remembered she meant her dream prince, the boy she met in the woods after meeting with me. All of a sudden, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather looked pretty stunned at just the sound of those words. "Him?" Fauna asked in surprise. "Rose..." Merryweather gasped in shock. "You- you met some stranger?" Flora inquired. "Oh, he's not a stranger," Rose replied simply. I nodded in agreement, "Yeah, they met time and time before." "They have?" Flora asked in astonishment, Merryweather turning to look back at Rose. "Where?" The blue-clad peasant woman asked her niece. "Once upon a dream." Briar Rose replied in a dreamy tone. Before anything could be said or done, she began to sing the same tune she sang earlier today as she danced a little. "I know you, I walked with you once upon a dream..." Soon, the golden-haired maiden took Fauna by the hands and danced with her a bit. She then began humming as the green-clad woman looked to the others with concern. "She's in love!" Fauna exclaimed in worry. "Oh, no!" Merryweather cried. "This is terrible!" Flora said, sharing whatever worry Merryweather and Fauna seemed to have. Hearing that got mine and Briar Rose's attention. I heard of being worried about seeing your kids or niece or nephew be in love. However, from the tone I heard in their voices, they sounded as though they found out someone they loved was dying. "So she's in love, what's the big deal?" I asked with a shrug, “She’s gotta start dating sometime.” "Spike’s right. After all, I am sixteen." Briar Rose reminded her aunts. Flora shook her head, “Oh, no, it isn’t that, dears. It’s just that Rose is betrothed.” “Be-what?” I asked, confused at the sound of that. “Betrothed,” Merryweather answered with a smile, “She’s been arranged to be married since the day she was born.” “To Prince Phillip,” Fauna added with a smile. All of this talk left me and Briar Rose confused. Neither of us had any idea what the aunts were talking about, how she could be arranged for marriage to a prince. Taking in all she and I heard, Briar Rose finally spoke, despite not understanding what was going on. “But that’s impossible,” She said as she looked back and forth between her aunts, “How can I marry a prince? I’d have to be-.” “A princess,” Merryweather finished for her. I started putting the pieces together, “Wait, so you’re saying that Briar Rose is a… Princess?” “Yes, Spike,” Flora responded with a nod, “Princess Aurora, daughter of King Stefan and Queen Leah.” At the sound of those words, I felt my jaw drop with complete shock. I couldn’t believe it, my first human friend turned out to be an honest-to-Celestia princess! Then, the aunts turned back to their niece, if they really were her aunts. I turned away, listening to the conversation and suddenly something caught my eye on the bottom half of the door. I squinted my eyes a bit to the door to see something perched at the corner of the open half, a raven of some sort. It had golden yellow eyes with a bit of pink around them. From what I could tell about this raven, it seemed interested in the conversation that Briar Rose, now known as Princess Aurora, I guess, was having with Flora. Somehow, I had a bad feeling about the cruel grin across its beak as it listened to the two. “And tonight, we’re taking you back home to your father,” Flora said to Aurora, sounding happy. Aurora, however, didn’t sound too pleased, “But… But I can’t. I promised to meet with the boy in the woods here this evening, he’s coming here!” Just then, the raven cast a wicked glare at me, which left me slightly startled. Almost immediately, it flew away almost faster than you could say ‘Mi’Amore Cadenza’. I watched as it flew away until it disappeared beyond the blue skies, despite listening to the conversation between Flora and Aurora. “I’m sorry, child, but you can never see that young man again,” Flora sounded as if just saying the words pained her. Upon hearing those exact words, my eyes shot open wide with shock as I turned to the elderly woman in question. Imagine me in Aurora’s place and Twilight in Flora’s, then imagine Twilight telling me I was never allowed to speak with Rarity again. Yeah, pretty heartbreaking. But what I felt paled in comparison to how Aurora must have been feeling upon hearing those words. “Oh, no… No! I can’t believe it!” “The golden-haired young woman exclaimed in sadness. I could only watch as she ran past her aunts and up the stairs into her room, sobbing all the way. Truth be told, I could feel my heart break for her as I looked down to the floor, allowing a tear to run down my cheek. I then looked to Flora, Fauna and Merryweather, who didn’t look any happier. “And to think, she would have been so happy…” Merryweather mused, heartbroken for Aurora as Flora allowed a tear to roll down her cheek. ‘She was happy, until you broke her heart,’ I thought to myself bitterly. Letting loose with a sad sigh, I turned to leave the cottage. I should figure out how to get back to Ponyville, to Twilight and the gang. They must be wondering where I am and why I’m not back in bed at the library by now. But the minute I reached to open the front door to go, I felt a hand placed on my shoulder. I turned my head to see Flora kneeling down to my level. "Spike, if it's not too much trouble, could you go up and speak with Aurora?" She asked of me in a sweet and motherly tone. I only turned away, "Why, to hit her while she's down? You're obviously better at it than I could ever be." "Of course not, dearie," Fauna replied, surprised by my bitterness, "We love our dear Rose too much to hurt her." "Yeah, but you love her enough to lie to her about her lineage after sixteen years of looking after her?" Then, Flora cut in, "We had no choice, it was the only way we could protect her from Maleficent." I paused at hearing that name, Maleficent. Somehow, it felt as though it had rung a requiem bell in my mind. I didn't exactly remember where I had heard that name before, but I felt like I should have known it by now. With a look of curiosity, I turned to look back at the two and Merryweather, the latter coming up to us. "Who's Maleficent?" I inquired the three. "Oh, Maleficent is a mean old witch, she's the reason we took Rose into hiding, to prevent her curse from being fulfilled," Merryweather explained to me, a hint of hatred in her voice for whoever this Maleficent was, "She's as malevolent as her name is true, the mistress of all evil." Flora looked to me with concern, "On the day of Rose's christening, Fauna, Merryweather and I each presented a gift to the little princess. Before Merryweather could present her gift, Maleficent lay a curse on our little Briar Rose, dooming her to die before sunset on her sixteenth birthday from pricking her finger on the spindle of a spinning wheel." “... Wow, that's.... That's just... Evil!" I exclaimed in shock and horror, "Couldn't someone have tried and talk things over with her, to change her mind?" "I'm afraid it's not that simple, Spike." Merryweather replied sadly to me. "But it doesn't make sense, why would she do something so evil? What did Aurora do to her?" Flora looked concerned, "No one knows, Spike. Some say she was once a good fairy, until her heart had hardened, others say she was born evil and others simply assumed she was jealous of what Rose would become. "That is why we took Rose into hiding for the past sixteen years. We had to live as humans, without the use of magic. That way, Maleficent would never suspect a thing." ".... I guess that makes sen-." I stopped in mid-sentence, looking back to the three women, "Wait a sec. What do you mean by not using magic?" Flora, Fauna and Merryweather looked back and forth between each other and nodded. Then, they each took out what looked like some sort of stick that gave off sparkles before waving them over themselves. In a flash of light and a few sparkles, the women's outfits changed. They were now clad in regal looking dresses and pointed hats that matched the colors of their peasant outfits. To add icing to the cake and much to my surprise, they now had some sort of wings on their backs. "You guys are... Fairies?" I asked aloud, surprised at the sudden transformation. "Yes, Spike." Flora replied with a nod. "We are fairies." "Now... Would you kindly go speak with Rose please? We must reach the castle before the sun sets." Fauna requested me with a smile. I pondered it over, "Okay, but why me?" "You see, Spike, from what we can assume, Rose must trust you with all of her heart, almost as though you have a heart of gold." Flora answered for me. "Well... Okay." I said, smiling a bit. I then picked up the blue dress on the chair, carrying it in my arms before turning to the fairies. "You guys mind if I take this up to her?" "Go ahead, dear." Merryweather replied with a smile and a nod. I smiled in response before heading up the stairs into Aurora's bedroom. Once I reached the doorway, I peeked in to see the girl in question laying across her bed, her face buried in her arms as she sobbed. It broke my heart to see her in pain and sorrow like this. Taking a deep breath, I knocked on the doorframe three times as if I were knocking on a door, gaining Aurora's attention as I spoke up. "Umm... Rose or... Aurora? Can I talk to you for a sec?" I asked aloud, despite sounding concerned. Aurora didn't say a word to me, yet she looked up and stared at me with her eyes red from crying. I trudged over to the bed and sat myself on the edge of it, looking up to the golden-haired girl. "Listen, Flora, Fauna and Merryweather told me about the whole thing," I explained to her, my eyes shifting to the mahogany floor at my feet, "And... They asked me to come up and talk to you about it, since you and me are really good friends." Aurora brought herself to the bed's edge, "But Spike... What if I never see him again?" Hearing that placed a heavy weight on my heart. Nevertheless, I spoke again, "Look, I know what you're going through, but sometimes things don't go as planned and nothing can be done to change it. "But the best advice I can offer is to keep your chin up and things will make a turn for the better. I mean, I'm no psychic, but who knows: maybe that Prince Phillip guy your aunts mentioned could be that guy you met in the woods earlier today." Just saying that made me smile a little. Despite what I said, Aurora still looked concerned, "I see, but what should I do?" I was at a crossroads at the sound of that. "Well... the best I can suggest is doing what you think is the best choice." "... Thank you, Spike." Aurora said, finally smiling for the first time since she had told her aunts about how great her day was. Just then, I had remembered something as I looked to the dress I held in my arms. Smiling, I presented it to Aurora. "Oh, by the way, Merryweather allowed me to bring this up to you." “That's the dress Merryweather made for me." Aurora said as she recognized the dress in my arms. "Hey, what're friends for?" I replied simply with a grin. "Thank you, Spike, but could you turn away with your eyes closed while I change into it please?" "Oh, uh, right. Uh... sorry." I apologized as I turned away while closing my eyes, realizing what Aurora meant by what she just asked me. A few minutes passed as I kept my eyes closed until Aurora spoke up. "Okay, Spike. How do I look?" At hearing her voice, I turned back to her as I opened my eyes. My eyes widened in astonishment when I saw the girl with the golden hair in the royal blue dress for the first time. Words couldn't describe what I thought of it, but I said what I did. "Wow, Aurora..." I admitted, smiling as I blushed a bit, "You look amazing." Aurora smiled as she knelt to my level, giving me a hug. "Thank you, Spike, for that. And thank you for cheering me up." Before I could do or say anything else, she gave me a kiss on the forehead. I looked slightly stunned by the kiss Aurora gave me, but shrugged it off with a smile. I could tell that was one way of her thanking me. "C'mon, Aurora. We better get going, your aunts are waiting for us," I said as I headed out of the room. "Coming, Spike," Aurora replied, placing on a long cloak that was midnight blue in color. Awhile later, we met up with Flora, Fauna and Merryweather. At first, Aurora was surprised to learn that they themselves were fairies, but she managed to roll with it in no time at all. Before we knew it, we were walking off to the castle, in hopes that things would get better before they could get worse. Little did I know... ... This was only the beginning of our problems.